It’s so fun dyeing eggs for Easter, that we always hard boil at least 3 dozens. Twelve eggs for each child seems to be a satisfactory number for dyeing, but then we are left with the question – what do we do with them once we are tired of egg salad?

Yes, there’s egg salad sandwiches. Potato-egg salad.  Balsamic egg salad.  Deviled eggs.  These are all excellent things to do with hard boiled eggs, but after the first two dozens, we often find ourselves not quite as enthralled with the hard boiled egg as we were formerly.

This is an interesting variation on deviled eggs, with a completely different flavor. Butter, instead of mayonnaise, is mixed with the yolks.  When I traveled in Europe, I noticed that butter is often used where mayonnaise would be in the US.  Instead of mustard, fresh parsley and garlic is the seasoning.

OEUFS FARCIS

Cut long ways down the middle along hard boiled eggs (2 per person).  Remove the yolks and mash with a pat of butter, and a pat of bread crumbs soaked in milk and then strained, parsley and garlic finely chopped.

Put a spoonful back in each half of the egg whites, place in an oven-proof dish and warm for a few minutes in a hot oven before serving.

French Stuffed Eggs

6 hard boiled eggs

1 Tablespoon soft butter

1 piece of bread, crust removed and crumbled into fine crumbs

About 1/4 cup milk

Salt and pepper

2 Tablespoons finely chopped parsley

1 finely chopped garlic clove

1.  Start by preheating the oven to 350F.
2. Start the bread soaking by placing in a bowl and pouring the milk over it and mashing lightly with a fork.
3. Peel the eggs and slice in half longways.
4. Take out the yolks, mash with a fork, and season with salt and pepper.  Drain any extra milk out of the soaking bread crumbs, and mix well with the yolks.  Add the chopped parsley and garlic.
5. Just like for deviled eggs, put a spoonful of the yolk mixture back into each half of egg white.  Pop into the oven for about 5-8 minutes to warm before serving.  I put a piece of fresh parsley and a grind of pink peppercorns on top for garnish.

{My grandmother, Claudia Meraud, was born in Nice, France.   She immigrated to the US after meeting my grandfather while he was stationed there as a US soldier in WW II.  We spent several summers together, just the two of us, living with her sister in Nice.  She passed along to me an old French cookbook titled  title is La Cuisine:  Guide Practique De La Ménagère by R. Blondeau, Chef de Cuisine.  It originally belonged to my great-grandmother, Lucie Thomas, who was a native of St. Marie-aux-Mines in Alsace.

This cookbook was published in the 1930’s, and was written as a practical guide for a household cook before the days of the fridge and the food processor.  The recipes are delicious, practical, and (of course) packed with good traditional nutrition.

I am creating translated versions of these antique recipes, re-written for the modern cook, and tested with home-grown and seasonal food.}